Thursday, March 16, 2006

You better learn to love classic cartoons!

...IF YOU EVER WANT TO WORK FOR ME!

OK, listen all you young would-be animators, if you wanna become great you have to learn from the old cartoon masters from the 1940s.Learn everything you can about how they drew and animated, how they thought and what cartoons they made.Don't study my cartoons; study all my influences.

Here's a poster I did with Lynne Naylor of my biggest hero Bob Clampett:

I won't tell you too much about him except that I think he was the most influential and greatest of the classic cartoon directors. He was the looniest of all the Looney Tunes animators and was largely responsible for their success and style.My other big heroes are Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Bob McKimson.If you want to draw great, copy their beautiful and hilarious cartoons from the 1940s.

Look at some of these fun pictures from Clampett's cartoons:

Kitty Kornered

Falling Hare

Baby Bottleneck

So listen up, kids, many young cartoonists come to me with portfolios full of fake spumco style drawings or worse-graffiti art or the Cal Arts style. Don't do it!

What I look for is good old fashioned 40s style cartoon fundamentals. If you seriously want to work for me one day then do exactly what I tell you.Buy this book now!

It's by Preston Blair, one of Tex Avery's animators in the 1940s. He animated Red Hot Riding Hood! This is the best book ever written about how to draw cartoons. It costs about 11 dollars and will teach you more than 4 years and $80,000 worth of cheesy animation school.

But after you buy it, be sure to open it!

Draw the characters in it and DRAW THEM THE WAY HE SHOWS YOU HOW TO DRAW THEM!

I can't stress how important this advice is. You can't get into Spumco if you don't learn these principles correctly. Don't concern yourself about your own personal style. You don't have one yet. Only 1 in a hundred cartoonists ever develop an actual style. Fundamentals are much more important.

The kind of cartoonists I like are the ones that can see the obvious: that cartoons should look good and that old cartoons are the most appealing. If you can see that, then you might have a chance of learning how to do it. I'll help anyone who can prove it to me.

Now, it's very hard these days to find the great cartoons because they hardly ever show them on TV anymore for some mysterious reason.

I'll talk more about classic cartoons in later posts, but this is a good start for those of you who are interested. Bone up!I used to freeze frame great old cartoons and taught myself the classic fundamental principles above. You can do it too! And you will laugh a lot whiile you discover these masterpieces.

Good luck!

P.S. Don't copy drawings from Friz cartoons because they are not drawn very well. They are stiff, sloppy and bland.Chuck is great. So are Bob, Tex and McKimson and so are the late 1940s Tom and Jerrys.Do it.

Oh, and if you are in college I would be happy to come and lecture and show the best of these cartoons.

Hey, this is awesome, John! Thanks for the tips and stuff. I DO hope to work for you one day, and fortunately, I've been watching the cartoons you mentioned (Calmpett) since I was... well, old enough to watch TV.

Fortunately again, I've got a lot of Looney Tunes videos in my room (Plus a few DVDs, which are still okay...) so I should definitley take a look at those again.

The kind of cartoonists I like are the ones that can see the obvious: that cartoons should look good and that old cartoons are the most appealing. If you can see that, then you might have a chance of learning how to do it. I'll help anyone who can prove it to me.

Thanks. I'm ordering the book. I have to agree the oldies are the best! I love the ape cartoon you mentioned, it's my fave. I love how daddy ape gets pummeled every time he tries to murdolize his baby! Fun tips; but honestly -- I don't think I'll ever be as skilled as the spumco team so thats not why I'm such a fan of your site. I appreciate the advice, anyway...

I had a few VHS cartoons my mom bought me when I was a tot. I watched them for years! That's probably what made me love cartooning in my later years. Popeye's "Sinbad the Sailor" is the first cartoon I can remember back to.

John, come to Sheridan in the fall, and tell the idiot administration to stop butchering the program (they're phasing out any animation teacher who doesn't have a masters degree! the place is ruined!)

Anyway, beautiful post! It's good to see screencaptures that don't have screwed colours.

A Loony Tunes movie from the mid 1980's came on today, I believe it was about Daffy in a Fantasy Island-esque setting. The difference in animation between the origional cartoons they showed, and then the stuff animated specifically for the movie was pretty big! I thought the old cartoons were animated alot better. I find it odd that animation hasn't really found a way to get much better since those 40's cartoons. I always find it odd that entertainment things dont progress as well as they should through the decades. I'm gonna buy that book, I feel crummy about my stuff when I hear about all the stuff said here haha, I gotta improve!

can you explain how the looney tunes golden collection dvds are (messed) up in comparison to vhs tapes... ? even if they are digitally enhanced or whatever, i seem to get a heck of a lot of a better picture pausing a dvd than i do any old vhs tape... and isn't jerry beck supervising the new looney tunes transfers? he seems like a guy who knows what he's doing... probably you can't talk much about this since you worked on it, but even as a big looney tunes fan, i don't know what all the fuss is about.. to me, the dvd's frame advance and pause abilites (and affordability if comparing to the old looney tunes laserdisc collections) overshadow any edge enhancement issues..

Buy a laserdisc player and get the old Golden Age of Looney Tunes box sets. The new DVDs are horribly mangled. The best cartoons on the first set were DVNR'ed which erased the drawings. (See Google and search for "DVNR cartoons") The second set had HORRIBLE color misadjustments. The cartoons on that set look nothing like they did in the 40s.

I will be transferring the laserdiscs to DVD and arranging the cartoons into chronological order by director (the best way to study them). This will begin in a couple of months. I'm looking for volunteers who are available on Tuesdays or Thursdays to help out. Ability to use Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and other video software is a big plus. Email me at sworth(at)animationarchive.org

To those interested, the Censored 11 (including Coal Black and the other racist cartoon John posted a pic of) are easily available on the internet, in torrent form. C.B. really *is* the best animated short ever made.

To John - have you heard of SVA? Drop by if you're ever in New York. There's been a big anti-Disney movement in the animation department in response to the company's CG BS. You'd best come in before they get the wrong idea and start emulating Butch Hartman.

I've had the Preston Blair books since I was in fourth grade, and although they're great books that I've refferenced lots over the years, I have to say the Animator's Survival Kit taught me the most about how to animate. I don't know of anyone who reads it to learn to draw anyway, they're just stick figures with volume (but very clear).

I'm surprised you don't mention life drawing or actually learning animation from the ground up (not copying) in your advice. Even though all the tweens are done oversees now, I know more about charater design for cartoons by actually moving them. You're cartoon designs are great because you know what will work as a 3D form on paper when you want to move it.

Wouldn't you say it would be best to cut through all the middle men instead of just Spumco? I say so.

Hey John,I've got a Preston Blair book but I'm not sure if it's the best one. It's got just over 30 pages and has that yellow cover with the rabbit in a boxing pose on the inside. It's part of a magzine range by Walter Foster. Is this the right one? Also is the book with the elephant on the cover the more complicated book?

hey john! i'm out of school and working now, but when i was there i was always pushing to have our classes built more around classic fundamentals. as i was leaving [in my wake of complaints] they hired some better teachers, but i think the kids there now would benefit a lot from hearing you speak. how might one contact you about setting a lecture up? my email is smo@threeprong.net.

This is good advice to any aspiring artist, no matter who they're a fan of. Because most artists are watered-down versions of their influences. There can be a synergy between multiple influences and dedication to the craft that makes them something new and wonderful, but most of the time... yeah.

What's your favorite way to apologize for the racist imagery that saturates Coal Black and some of the other absolute classics? I'm always uneasy when I show it to black friends, because it's great, joyous animation, but it also really pushes some of their buttons in a bad way.

There is only one racist gag in Coal Black, and it's directed at the Japanese. (WWII propaganda) Just because there are black characters in the cartoon, it doesn't make it racist.

Clampett loved Jazz. Coal Black is a tribute to the LA Jazz scene of the time. The characters in Coal Black aren't voiced by Mel Blanc doing a Rochester impression... they're black performers enjoying themselves and celebrating their own culture.

There's nothing to be embarassed about unless you, as a white person, are normally embarassed at black people's blackness.

do you know where I can see a better version of coal black than the really grainy version circulating the internet and fake DVDs?

Come to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive at 2114 Burbank Bl in Burbank. I'll show you a pristine quality copy of Coal Black on a hidef 30 inch Apple Cinema Display. While you're there, you can see Tin Pan Alley Cats, Grim Natwick's original character design sketches for Betty Boop, Jim Smith's original storyboard for Untamed World, and all 120 B&W Popeye cartoons. Needless to say, you better have the whole afternoon and evening set aside.

The Archive is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 9pm. If you live in Southern California, you need to get down here.

Some of the black characters are voiced by Mel actually. And Mel does do his Rochester impression once, right after Coal Black lights a match and that little dwarf sings "Who goes there? Friend or foe?" But yeah, none of that makes it racist in the slightest either.

John, as far as appreciating the classics go, you don't have to tell me twice. I own all three dvd sets and a huge box of Looney Tunes VHS cassetes I've been collecting since 1990. Many of those tapes have been viewed by me more than.......... y'know, I lost count after 50.I do enjoy many cartoons by many of the big directors. Bob Clampett's toons rock the house, especially when Scribner is animating. Chuck Jones toons have an indisputable distinguished charm and are some of the best and most intelligent toons ever made (Bob Clampett even said so.) Bob McKimson started off great when he first rose from the ranks of animator to director and was paired with writer Warren Foster but sadly deteriorated when his writer became Tedd Pierce and the brief shutdown in 1954 forced him to assemble a new unit of animators that was not nearly as effective. Art Davis is sadly one of the most underrated directors of all time. I hope there's some sort of documentary on him in some upcoming dvd sets. Frank Tashlin did some killer stuff too especially during his second stint in 1943 - 1945. You mentioned the dull, pedestrian drawings of Friz Freleng's toons but I enjoy the animation of Virgil Ross and Gerry Chiniquy very much. In fact, in my student film, I tried to incorporate the styles of Rod Scribner and Virgil Ross as much as I could. I also enjoy his timing. But I do see what you mean though. Friz was not one to venture too far away from what he knew and was therefore afraid to experiment. That's why so many of his cartoons have reused gags most likely just to save time and money.As for the big one, Tex Avery, his MGM toons are way better but his WB toons also show us his directorial skill. He was not just the king of crazy animation and clever gags, he was also the king of ingenius premises as well. Who else but Tex would have come up with the scenarios for King Sized Canary, Doggone Tired, Billy Boy, or Dumb Hounded?

Anyway, John, that's my rant just saying that I agree with your rant. Sadly, too many people today need this rant. Everyone should definitely see this post.

My friends still rag on me for my cartoons looking too 'Spumco' even though I've stopped copying and drawing from your cartoons years ago. For cartoon inspiration I try to find what I like about all the classic Fleischer, Looney Tunes, MGM, Lantz, Terrytoon and even Walt Disney shorts. The internet has been a good source of reference since a lot of these great cartoons are out of print.

Wow John! :) As usual I don't know quite what to say, but this advice is much appreciated :) It's gold. I think so many young artists who aspire to animation and are big fans of yours will take this advice to heart (I mean, who doesn't like classic cartoons??).

Since I realized that this was your advice, I went and got the yellow book and made it a point to watch a lot of classics :) Coal Black of course is completely amazing. I wish I could find a good quality version though! Hah, I like Book Revue a lot too (Daffy does this incredible fast singing thing that had me rolling on the floor), and the one in which Daffy's leg gets ridiculously (and hilariously) long (is that "Baby Bottleneck"?).

Also, I didn't realize there was a CalArts style. I was seriously considering going there; would you not recommend it?

John, thank you so much for these posts. Like I said, it's gold to those of us who want to devote our lives to this :)

And will you post your speaking engagements on here when you get them?? I would gladly drive quite a ways to see you speak, hah :)

Finally, if you ever opened a school, even a small one, there's no doubt people would be extremely eager to learn from you. But I imagine you'd rather make cartoons, and one can go far with the advice you gave here.

>>I'm surprised you don't mention life drawing or actually learning animation from the ground up (not copying) in your advice....Wouldn't you say it would be best to cut through all the middle men instead of just Spumco? I say so.

This deserves an answer.

Life drawing-used correctly-can help your cartoons. But it won't help you be cartoony.

I've seen many portfolios from art students that have some decent looking life drawings in them and then I get to their cartoon pages and see that they have applied nothing from the life drawings to their cartoons.The cartoons are flat, stiff, have no line of action, are full of tangents and have no appeal.

The cartoons of the 1940s distill all the basic fundamentals that you need in order to do good cartoon animation. It took hundreds of great artists 15-20 years of experimenting, working together and doing what comes natural at a time when common sense was the American way, to develop the principles that made the best cartoons in history. Can you as one person taking a few life drawing classes reinvent animation from scratch and improve on the past all on your own in one lifetime?

I am suggesting to young cartoonists that they take advantage of all that knowledge. Animation had its fastest period of advancement in history between 1930 and 1946. It's been all downhill from there.

Learn the fundamentals, then branch out into whatever "style" you want to do.

Good life drawing is a lot harder to learn than characters made out of spheres and pears, but they use the same principles. I've never in my life seen animation of anatomical characters look good, cartoony or realistic. It's just too complicated to turn out 12-24 detailed realistic drawings per second and keep control of all the shapes.

You won't learn line of action from life drawing-even though the teachers tell you you will. I know this from the thousands of art student portfolios I've seen.

I have to reteach every kid that comes to me from animation school.

This is the best advice you will ever get if you want to work for me.

Learn the Preston Blair/classic cartoon method.

If you want to draw in a flat fake UPA or Cal Arts style or bland Dreamworks fake realism style, then you don't need my advice.

I'm just doing you a favor. You don't have to take advantage of it if you don't plan on working at the one studio that attempts to preserve the traditions of funny classic volumetric cartoons.

I don't quite understand why people can't tell the difference between the two Preston Blair books, but maybe it's because the yellow cover is actually inside the current cover, which looks more like a health insurance guide than an animation guide.

The back of the yellow cover has my favorite motto:

You can drawWhy not try?

I don't know where else to post this, so I'll do it here. Yesterday my son (age 10) was splayed out on the sofa, watching a cartoon. I asked him what he was watching, and it was "Kim Possible". I asked him how much he liked it, and he mumbled, "It's okay..."

I asked what his favorite cartoons are, and he took a long time to answer and finally said, "I guess this one."

"But you just said 'Kim Possible' was only okay. What about 'SpongeBob'? You loved that show."

"I got sick of it...Oh! Do Loony Toons count?" I told him that of course they did, and then he said, "Those are my favorite, but they don't show them anymore. I actually like the shows with real people, like 'Drake and Josh.'"

Since when does a 10-year-old boy prefer live action to cartoons?? If kids are watching 'Drake and Josh' (the word "insipid" springs to mind) because all of the cartoons are boring, there's something desperately wrong. Maybe it's my son. Maybe he's a freak. He used to LOVE Dexter, Powerpuff Girls (not just for girls! Funny is funny.), SpongeBob, Johnny Bravo (yuck), etc., and now he's tired of them. Gee, and he isn't tired of old cartoons. He particularly likes the original Daffy Duck, who was truly daffy, and not some loser trying to outwit Bugs Bunny. He also likes the early Elmer Fudd. (He calls him Elmer, without the Fudd, which strikes me as hilarious for some reason.)

I reckon this is a good time to flood the airwaves with cartoons that don't suck.

John, I live an hour north of Toronto and I would love to hear you lecture if you ever make it this way.

I have over 500 Looney Tunes cartoons including the laser disk ones dubbed to dvd & 9 of the censored 11. I have all the Betty Boops except for 3, and tons more cartoons. The sad thing, I have no one to share them with or discuss them with except for two people I e-mail! Where are these wonderful people who love classic cartoons? Do they not live in Ontario? Am I doomed to live a life of cartoon solitary unless I pack up and head to California? Help!

p.s. Reg Hartt scares the crap out of me half the time so I try to avoid him.

Come to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive at 2114 Burbank Bl in Burbank. I'll show you a pristine quality copy of Coal Black on a hidef 30 inch Apple Cinema Display. While you're there, you can see Tin Pan Alley Cats, Grim Natwick's original character design sketches for Betty Boop, Jim Smith's original storyboard for Untamed World, and all 120 B&W Popeye cartoons. Needless to say, you better have the whole afternoon and evening set aside.

The Archive is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1pm to 9pm. If you live in Southern California, you need to get down here.

Alicia, don't cry. I should cry. I live in Brazil.The only good thing regarding classic cartoons is that in the rare occasions they are broadcasted here people won't bother censoring them. I remember one morning i caught by chance Tortoise wins by a hare, and they didn't cut the suicide ending, that was cool.

Not entirely sure I want to work for Spumco (your standards are probably too high for me), but I do love Bob Clampett (and I've saw that poster in person at John K.'s dad's house almost 2 years ago. I believe you can buy it from Cartoon Network's online store),m and I'm going buy that Preston Blair book one of these days. And I'm still buying the Looney Tunes DVDs (hey, if they're good enough for Jerry Beck, they're good enough for me, and that's not even mentioning the great extras...), but I am interesting in buying MGM's Golden Age of Looney Tunes laserdiscs if I can find them cheap enough (also I don't have a laserdisc player yet, but I really want one.).

>>John, come to Sheridan in the fall, and tell the idiot administration to stop butchering the program (they're phasing out any animation teacher who doesn't have a masters degree! the place is ruined!) <<

Hey, I want to get into Sheridan! What's all this aobut ruining the program! Do you think it's worth shelling out tons of clams for going there?

There's more than just the 'Japs: free!' racist gag in Coal Black. How about the close-up of the Prince's teeth with dice? And the caricatured language.

It's a brilliant cartoon. There's no denying that. I can argue that it's a celebration of WWII Black jazz culture; I'm quite aware of the cartoon's context. But it's still pretty uncomfortable to show to my black friends.

On the other hand, my favorite feature-length cartoon is Coonskin. That, too, is kinda... difficult... to share with people. And wonderful to watch. For much the same reasons as Coal Black.

Maybe being a honky who grew up in New Orleans makes these things more prickly for me.

We should take a lesson from that. Most cartoonists today just copy other animated cartoon styles and not enough of them. Most animated features are really inbred because they just keep recycling designs and story formats from 60s Disney films and each other (and a little bit of Spumco) instead of from other art forms and life in general.

You mean there's one with a different cover that's essentially the same as the yellow cover one?

Blast it! I just dropped 57 bones on the original 1949 version!

Seriously??

Not only is it the same as the yellow one, it IS the yellow one. They just slapped that boring "new" cover directly over the yellow one. I guess they had a backlog and figured a cover that looks like crap could be attached over the warehouse of yellow ones so it would look "modern". I ripped that abomination right off as soon as I got it. BTW, current price at amazon is $7.95. Why are people debating whether to get it or not? That's two mocha grandes at you-know-where.

$7.95! Come on, people! I am one of the millions who agrees with John K. as to its greatness. I learned more about the way bodies move in that little book than I did in four years' worth of life drawing every single day for 3 hours at a clip--not that life drawing isn't essential, because it is.

Joel, can you sell it on eBay to some obsessive, moneybags animation fan? There has to be someone who'd instantly glom onto it. Or put it on display for others to admire and be jealous of.

>>Hey Jorge,I deleted your link. I don't want to start wars.This blog is for people who have the same interests as me, like cartoony cartoons.If someone doesn't like them, that's fine. No point in arguing about it.<<

Alright, man. I didn't want to start a war either, just giving you the heads-up. That's a good attitude, though.

Dice teeth could be seen as racist because it's making a joke about black people gamblings alot. I'm not offended, but then again I'm not black.

Reading about censorship & cartoons, I realize how lucky were people in Mexico City:

Two local tv stations, one of them a very small station (XHGC, TV Mexiquense), still broadcast some of that now-risky cartoons, like that with Bugs and the african-american fellow playin' with dices and many others over the WWII, on regular basis and scheduled at early afternoon.

Dice teeth could be seen as racist because it's making a joke about black people gamblings alot. I'm not offended, but then again I'm not black.

I hate to break this to you but Gold teeth was very big in the Jazz days and are even bigger today with Hip-Hop Artists.

How is gold teeth racist?

Also cribs was a actual pastime, I went to schools with mostly black students and they played it all the time in the bathroom between periods, sometimes during, and before school outside and after school, every single day.It's a legit real part of black culture.

If a cartoon shown white people playing poker while drinking beer and smoking cigars, would you consider that racist?

African American Vernacular English changes all the time, so it may seem caricatured to you since, they do not talk like that anymore, but just try to hear soem Jazz records or interviews from the time that the cartoon was made.

It is in the south that the development and invention of the game of Craps is attributed to African Americans in the early 19th century. An American slang for Crapshooting and dice play is African Dominoes. Some claim the name Craps comes from the term given to the French - Johnny Crapaud (Crap being French for toad. A nickname referring to the French taste for eating amphibians). But the name Craps is almost certainly a corruption of the name for a losing throw of 2 in Hazard - crabs. It may have been the French who came up with the name or the African Americans of the south who first played it. No one knows for sure.

Today Craps is the biggest gambling game in the history of the world in terms of money wagered. Played with just two dice in a casino or as a private game in an alley or backroom the game captured the publics imagination and is portrayed in countless Hollywood films as the low and high rollers game of choice.

I don't quite understand why people can't tell the difference between the two Preston Blair books, but maybe it's because the yellow cover is actually inside the current cover, which looks more like a health insurance guide than an animation guide.

Okay, Jorge, say you've drawn a picture with two objects one closer to the viewer than the other. If the edge of one of those objects is on the exact same line as the other, that's a tangeant. It bad because it completely ruins the sense of depth you tried to achieve with the drawing. It's better to put one object more in front or behind the other object, then the proper perspective is retained.

I wish I could show you visually, but on a blog's comment page an explanation is the best I can do.

The second Blair book is only "complicated" if you have no interest in arcs, spacing, or timing charts. You know, the type of the thing that will make your animation actually look smooth and professional, (to say nothing of assistable) instead of a herky-jerky rummage sale of grotesque distortion drawings popping around all over the place.

I went to Sheridan for a year and hated it! Unless you want to pimp yourself to Disney, don't bother. I was even told by a teacher there that Warners was full of mistakes and would never be half of what Disney was. Once I expressed my thoughts that Disney wasn't all that hot, they told me that attitude was a sure fire way to make sure I would never graduate from that school. Gee, I thought I was there to learn skills, I guess I was wrong.

John, you give lots of great advice for young cartoonists, but what about the old ones? ;)

Honestly, I'm not ancient, but I'm 30 now, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on learning the craft of animation. Do you feel as though this is something anyone can do at any age, or do you lean more towards it being something you're born with?

I once had an artist I respect very much tell me, "You could do exactly what I do if you practice enough. Drawing is something that you can teach yourself to do, if you're willing to practice, and you can be just as good as anyone else. Sure, some people are born with a God-given talent and can draw really well even at a young age, but if you aren't born with the skill, you can still master it."

I tend to agree and disagree at the same time, because I think if anyone practices at anything long enough, they'll be able to pass themselves off as having knowledge of the skill. However, I also feel that some people just have the "gift" to bring life to their drawings that simply can't be taught by a book or video.

As a 30 year old wannabe artist, I hope that this is something I can one day teach myself, but I also feel like if it hasn't happened yet, it may never happen at all.

The best Al Jolson CD is "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet: Jolie's Finest Columbia Recordings". I played it at xmas and my in-laws made me turn it off. Buy it and if you don't like it, that's ok, because the songs will stick in your mind anyway and that's when the healing begins.

John K this Blog rocks hard it has to be the best Animation blog on the Internet, It is awesome to see that 2D animation stills lives , and people still have fire about it, Each time I read this Blog I learn something new and I am remined why I picked up a pencil so many years ago..

I feel most cartoons on T.V don't have life left in them , all the studio's that produce pointless moral filled cartoons should be shut down....where did things go so wrong...way do we have such crappy cartoons on T.V today.

We need to band together and start a revolution....start burning you pencils.

I've lately been getting thirsty for the old styles, but I think it comes naturally after you learn even a little about character design, caricature, and animation to notice how brilliant the originals are. I personally love the way everything has weight, a world with unique physics, it's the fun of movement! Oh and I had this twisted dream that I worked for you and that your office was in the middle of a nuclear reactor and you had to wear those stupid suits and everything was green...

I know you must be a very busy man and for you to take the time to interact with your fans like this, it really speaks volumes about your character... I'm glad the creator of one of my all time favorite cartoons doesn't have his head up his ass. 'tis refreshing to see, so thanks John.

I'd really like to see your repsonse to Dave Johnson's question... I'm curious about that, myself.

John, does all of this mean you are ramping up to hire people again for Spumco? On a related note. How does one move to Hollywood without first having a job waiting for them. Seems a lil catch 22-ish to move out there with nothing and somehow make the rounds at the studios. Any advice for people on the East coast who want to work in the animation biz?

The first edition of the Walter Foster book included a few pages of material from MGM and Disney that were removed in later editions. They don't add anything to the educational value of the book, but I would love to scan those pages for the archive if someone would lend us a copy of the 1949 edition to digitize.

There's a compilation version of both Preston Blair's ANIMATION books available in one volume, titled just ANIMATION, I think. It contains all the material from the originals but the format is different. The cover is green and features an elephant strolling in a top hat and suit on the cover.

Don't knock the DVD's--You can play great Clampett cartoons on automatic 8X slo-mo and sit and learn. Too bad SNOW WHITE and TIN PAN will never be availble this way.

3 GREAT PRINT CARTOONISTS TO STUDY: MILT GROSS, GEORGE LITCHY and WILLARD MULLIN. Mullin was a sports cartoonist with a fantastically loose style which pre-figures Jack Davis. If he wasn't an inspiration to the great animators of the 40's I'll eat my disc.

Would you really lecture at a school? I go to Bennington College and we have this Visual Arts Lecture Series... all sorts of people come and give lectures. Recently we've had a lot of [hokey] digital art/art noveau kind of people, but there are also awesome lecturers like Marina Zurkow and Lorna Simpson.

Anyway, I think it would be a total blast if you gave a lecture. So you can talk the talk, sir! If you can walk the walk, please do e-mail me at maxcantor AT gmail DOT com.

John,Many years ago, I saw some of your board work for "Beany and Cecil". I remember being pretty impressed with work and how well the poses and characters were drawn. I would love to know more about your process from getting the funny drawings to tell a story in that stage of the animation process.

Oh, any way you can post some of these (and for giggles), how about some box shots of "History's Most Perfect Men?

I too would like to see an opinion on that Dave Johnson question. Now there's three of us.My opinion, though: I tend to believe in talent. All those great young artists John has been pointing us too here are evidence of that. They practiced a lot, but so did tons of other people who never got nowhere. I suppose there must be a proportion like: 10% of people are truly gifted, 80% can learn to be pretty decent, and 10% just have their brains wired the wrong way and might as well die and reincarnate again to get a better one. Of course, a guy may be in the last group regarding music, but in the first regarding sculpting. Just some thoughts.

I don't hope, at my age, to ever become an animator, but this advice, I feel, could apply very powerful to comic strips as well. I know Boritom needs a lot of work before I can really expect people to start bookmarking it. I need to get that book, first thing next paycheck!

A couple of my friends want to go in more of a, Anime style. That would make about as much sense as a live action version of "Squidbillies." Your advice applies far more accurately to my desired aesthetic!

I know John very well, and I can tell you that his personal taste has absolutely nothing to do with the opinions he's presenting here. He can sit down with a cartoon that he doesn't care for and can glean many useful things out of it. I've also heard him rip apart cartoons he loves.

The thing non-artist cartoon fans don't understand about John's analysis of cartoons and their relative merits is that he is never talking about whether he *likes* something or not. He is talking about their relative strengths in context.

Here's an example... Harman-Ising MGM cartoons are about as removed from John's personal taste as you can get, however on Bjork, he spent an hour with Charlie Gibson (the CG guy on the video) still framing through Milky Way analyzing and praising the effects animation.

I've also seen him totally rip apart the Huck Hound and Yogi Bear cartoons he loves for their lousy stories and glacial pacing.

A good example of the differences between Freleng and Clampett as directors is to compare the two directors' handling of the sequence with the cat bouncing up to Tweety's bird house with a deep sea diving helmet on. Freleng repeated a whole sequence from an earlier Clampett cartoon and massacred the laughs by taking all of the snap out of the timing.

I tend to think the Freleng was always concerned that action wouldn't "read", so he timed for the lowest common denominator in the audience. This makes his cartoons very clear to the point of being obvious and telegraphing gags. Clampett used timing and staging much more creatively and unpredictably, creating bigger laughs in the process.

Hey, I've got a giant (image is 17"X18") single panel Willard Mullin original about the 1935 Kentucky Derby. It came from a thrift shop for around $10 and is a bit water damaged, but is crammed full of stuff...

well, I promised m'self I wouldn't be begging ppl for stuff, but this i'll consider maybe. Good advice for me. I draw cartoon characters all the time but it always seems I'm missing something I need. i'll see about this book. if not, i'll be angry. :P

Regarding's Steve's analysis of Freleng and Clampett's take on timing and gag pacing: My point was, and is, that Freleng's cartoons adhere to the main principles of A) the Preston book, and B) are certainly fit the criteria for a "classic" cartoon. Mr. K said "P.S. Don't copy drawings from Friz cartoons because they are not drawn very well. They are stiff, sloppy and bland." That is nothing if not a personal opinion based on taste and likes, and not one that everyone shares.

$7.95! $7.95! Or were you thinking Canadian prices? ;) You're in America now! You can toss those loons, or whatever they're called.

Joel brian, I'm a pushover for dusty old original things myself, so I'd be keeping it too. I found a gorgeous (to me) book in the trash called "The Fireside Book of Dog Stories", a first edition published in 1943, with the original jacket, a flat red overprint with a drawing of a dalmation which opens up and reveals a suitable-for-framing "dog map of the world", as they put it.

It's got an intro (and several stories) by James Thurber, and stories by E.B. White, Rudyard Kipling, and Thomas Mann, to name a few.

Best of all is the front matter, where we are told all about "The Appearance of Books in Wartime".

Out of curiosity, I googled the title and discovered that it was going for around 40 bucks. Why are people so stupid? I've always thought that people who like old stuff are smarter than the ones who throw things in the trash and replace them with glossy, plastic items. To say nothing of having good taste.

I must say, people do need to check out that book. I have a tattered old copy my mom handed down to me when I was a kid, and that skinny book has more good info crammed into about 40 pages or so than most entire art sections at a bookstore. I must have read it cover to cover hundreds of times as a kid, and practiced everything in there over and over...

*goes to dig it out of the closet and freshen up*

John, I've been watching this blog for the last few weeks, and it is simply awesome. As a designer who has been doing the same stuff for 7 years straight, this site has reminded me why I started drawing in the first place, and has pushed me to start woodshedding on my character drawings again.

Thanks for years of rad 'toons, and for taking the time to give back to the fans and artists through this site.

steve said, "The new DVDs are horribly mangled. The best cartoons on the first set were DVNR'ed which erased the drawings. (See Google and search for "DVNR cartoons") The second set had HORRIBLE color misadjustments. The cartoons on that set look nothing like they did in the 40s."

well, what about set # 3? are they getting better in your opinion? obviously the menu design and extras (john K commentaries) are improving...

and can you guys try to make sure they do the avery set right, when it finally is released?

The first set of WB cartoons was bad, with ghosting and DVNR on many of the best cartoons on the set. The latest one is much worse. They don't have DVNR, but the colors are completely goosed to neon brightness. I sat an watched the short documentary on the restoration of the films and I was horrified to see a couple of engineers going in and goosing colors selectively, altering the overall color balance of a scene. I have no hope for the third set. That's why I plan to digitize from the laserdiscs.

BOB CLAMPETT KICKS A$$! My Favorite is Russian Rhapsody. It reminded me of your work John, I was going to ask you awhile back in a letter if you've seen it before ? Especially Hitler's butt wobbling in the air reminded me of your work, John. I might have ask you this 2 or 3 times on this blog but.OH PLEASE, TELL US A STORY WHEN YOU WERE WITH BOB CLAMPETT!!!!!!!!YOU & BOB, or YOU, BOB, AND EDDIE.WHERE DID YOU GO ON VACATION!!!!WHAT CRAZY PLACES DID YOU GO TO ????

OH PLEASE, TELL US A STORY WHEN YOU WERE WITH BOB CLAMPETT!!!!!!!!YOU & BOB, or YOU, BOB, AND EDDIE.WHERE DID YOU GO ON VACATION!!!!WHAT CRAZY PLACES DID YOU GO TO ???? TELL US SOME STORIES, OH PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with you on most of that, but jeebus, what's up with you being so uptight? It seems like you hate CalArts too. I mean I think the school's fucking fantastic, and though you might not like it for one reason or another, I think it's a great environment for people who want to learn animation to grow up in. Just my two cents.

What is a CalArts style?(I do agree with you that they don't teach you some of the basics, but anyone who takes it seriously enough will do their own research. I mean I am. I just bought the damned book you said to buy. Not cause you said to buy it, but cause I wanna learn how it used to be done. Contemporary cartoons suck a rat's anus.

Hey, John K! I really liked the original Ren & Stimpy! It's cool you like Bob Clampett, we all do! I have a question though. You and Eddie Fitzgerald worked on the DiC cartoon "Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats". I didn't care much for the Heathcliff episodes, but I loved the Catillac cats episodes, cause they were more cartoony, and somewhat more adult than heathcliff. I want to know what your thoughts and memories are from that show. And since in the credits, you're name is listed in the Catillac Cats character design section. Was it you John K. that design Cleo? If you did design her THANK YOU FOR MAKING HER SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!

God this is GOLD!When I was in primary school in Australia, our library had that book stuffed away in a corner with lame how to draw cartoon books. I used to study Blair's drawings every chance I got, but then through my teenage years animation took a back seat to getting up to mischief. But that book always meant something to me, I'd forgotten who it was by but I remembered the 1940s style and the big yellow cover, so the hunt was on to track it down. Ended up finding the yellow one AND a blue one with animals all over the cover in a trash and treasure stall! Animation was back for me, right intime for John K's blog!You rock mate! One day I might fly over to U.S and bring a folio to show you.....or better still my website above. That was a dream when I was 11 and reading Preston Blair books.

>>Don't copy drawings from Friz cartoons because they are not drawn very well. They are stiff, sloppy and bland." That is nothing if not a personal opinion based on taste and likes, and not one that everyone shares.

This is not the place to argue about what you have to do to work for me.

i'm involved in a student run campus animation club on a campus in orange county (a bit south of Los Angeles). the proverbial "oc" is the cow's anus of the world, but redeemingly there are a bunch of students who would love to come hear you talk at cal state fullerton. it looks like we are pretty booked up for the rest of this semester, but i'd like to open up a dilaogue with you about coming out next fall. advanced planning would be proper because i'm sure you're busy. we just had jim smith out, and that was a real hoot. hope to catch you too! shoot me an email with some contact info: chrisallison32 AT hotmail DOT com

HOLY SHIT!! PLEASE COME TO MY COLLEGE! That would be a dream, and I damn sure know the kids need it here -- Columbia College of Chicago.

I did a presentation for my class today. Our assignment was to pick one inspiration and present it. I picked Bob Clampett. Sadly, the teacher has no sense of what's important to teach. I got through 5 minutes of giving them information, then I showed them Porky in Wackyland. I planned about 4-5 shorts to show but she said that I have to wrap it up right after Wackyland. So I forced one more cartoon and played Book Revue.

In any case, the kids were amazed with the craft. But God knows they need more than just 2 cartoons and 5 minutes of information. A College speech -- showing cartoons and holding a Q&A session would be incredible.

Oh, and also, fantastic post. I have been reading the Animator's Survival Kit but only for the lessons. I'm not at all reading it for William's style or subjective view. I'm taking a life-drawing class this summer semester, because it's something I'm determined to learn more on with the construction and familiarity it brings to drawing. When I'm satisfied, I'm going to do a 180 and start drawing from Preston's book.

As far as old cartoons, I've been obsessed for awhile. I'm also drawing from them, and doing my animations with their timing and style in mind. The only thing I found weird about the post was..

Go buy some 1940s WB cartoon videos here. Buy the tapes instead of the DVDs! They are easier to use and look a lot better!

Why do you think so? The DVD's have less fuzz and artifacts, are sharper, and are perfect for skipping frame by frame through the shorts. Also arguably better value(dollars per cartoon) and easier to find. With commentaries(some from you) and extras. Why would you suggest buying the VHS?

With that said, thanks for the wake-up call of a post this is. College is DEFINITELY not the place to learn animation. It's at home with a pencil and hundreds of classic cartoons.

>>Why do you think so? The DVD's have less fuzz and artifacts, are sharper, and are perfect for skipping frame by frame through the shorts. Also arguably better value(dollars per cartoon) and easier to find. With commentaries(some from you) and extras. Why would you suggest buying the VHS?

The picture is better on the VHS tapes.You don't have to sit through a 5 minute disclaimer from Whoopie Goldberg before you can watch a cartoon.The page I linked to tells you the dates of the cartoons. You want 40s cartoons. The old Turner tapes are all 40s, no limited animation 50s cartoonsThe DVDs waste whole sides with Tweety and Sylvester and a lot of other bad cartoons.

The VHS tapes give you more and better cartoons all in one shot for pretty cheap.

I made the blasphemous claim in my animation class that the Preston Blair book was superior to the Richard Williams book (even though it's not as thick?? WHAT?!). I think they put me on some sort of list for saying so. Anyway, I'm glad to see you validate my opinion. As far as I can tell, Richard Williams has little consideration for the entertainment of an audience; he seems more interested in showing how precisely he can time his actions. I'm a UCLA animation student, and we would love to come have you talk! I think we are sorely in need of a pep-talk about the importance of appeal. We can only pay a couple hundred dollars, I think, but at least it's a quick commute (...compared to Toronto or Vancouver). If you're interested in coming to Westwood, email me at meslin AT ucla DOT edu.

Great. I've actually found all my favorite shorts of the past - save for Chuck Jones in the 50's - came from about '40-'46. I mean, anything by Clampett I haven't seen is an event. And the rest just seemed to be inspired and made better by him.

I did enjoy Chuck Jones run in the 50's though. Duck Amuck, Duck Dodgers(did this inspire the Space themed eps of Ren & Stimpy?), What's Opera, One Froggy.. I'm a fan of his style, and he seemed really in control of his craft at this time. Though I'm not neccesarily a fan of his Daffy Duck interpretation or his predictable plots. Still, his sketches and key drawings were fantastic.

I wish Schlesinger would have given Clampett & Avery the bank to stay though. I'd kill for an extra 10 years of Clampett going where wherever his enthusiasm and talent take him. His ability never to give off a "seen this before" tone to his cartoons has constantly amazed me. No matter how far he took the last cartoon animation-wise, the next one's always just as inspired and fresh.

John- If you were willing to lecture at the Pratt Institute in New York you would get a great turnout and alot of appreciation. There's some good talent here, plus I think you know some of the professors.

The picture is better on the VHS tapes.You don't have to sit through a 5 minute disclaimer from Whoopie Goldberg before you can watch a cartoon.

Hitting the menu button on the remote gets rid of her pretty fast.

The page I linked to tells you the dates of the cartoons. You want 40s cartoons. The old Turner tapes are all 40s, no limited animation 50s cartoonsThe DVDs waste whole sides with Tweety and Sylvester and a lot of other bad cartoons.

I WANT THEM ALL!!! Even the Daffy/Speedy cartoons done in the DePatie-Freleng/Bill Hendricks years. Yes, I know many of them are barely watchable, but eliminating any cartoon from the WB library is just wrong.

Great post, John. I kind of do think you are a little hard on Friz, but admittedly, he probably is below the other Warner guys on my list (Jones, Clampett, McKimson, are my faves in that order).

A good period to study the blandness (which I WILL agree with John on) is the period where Emery Hawkins was shuffled around doing different unit scenes in the late 40s. His stuff sticks out like a sore thumb in shorts like All Abir-r-r-r-d and Golden Yeggs... Because it's damn good! Just compare Daffy telling his horror story after coming out of the pool, or Sylvester running from the dog on top of the train to the rest of the scenes.

I cannot draw to save my life, but I know who the best are. Rod Scribner, Emery Hawkins, Ward Kimball, Don Patterson, and Jim Tyer are the guys who always stick out the most. I also really love (but can't identify as well) the work of Irv Spence and Grim Natwick.

Watching stuff on film is the best way to watch shorts. You haven't lived until you've seen Baby Bottleneck projected.

My name is Eric. I'm a student at NYU who studies cinema & journalism. I also take animation classes and hope to make some cartoons of my own someday. Your advice is interesting - thanks for the book reccomendation!

I grew up on Ren & Stimpy and have had an unhealthy obsession with Spumco for as long as I can remember! You said that you'd be willing to come to colleges and speak about animation - it'd be amazing if you could come out to NYU and talk! I run a program with a fairly large budget, I should be able to work it out so that the school sponsors your flight and expenses.

Also, my life long dream is to write the definitive Spumco history book, a sort of journalistic/critical piece of writing (tell all a la peter biskind) about the company's history along with critical analysis of your work. I'm at the research level right now, but it'd be amazing to talk to you and your comrades and get the facts! I think Spumco is an amazing part of animation history that hasn't been thuroughly explored. I find the R&S story really insipring and frustrating at the same time, and I think its touches on something that goes beyond animation that people - even those who aren't cartoon fans - could appreciate.

I'd love to pitch this to you for real someway! PLEASE contact me at es1413@nyu.edu or help me find a way to contact you!

I haven't wasted my money buying the WB DVDs, but I've seen them. There are a lot more than two cartoons with DVNR. Look again. The whole disk with Book Revue is full of problems... bad interlacing, dvnr, excessive grain filtering, etc. Try still framing on Daffy as Danny Kaye. Look at Grusome Twosome on the most recent set. Those colors are all made up by the engineers "restoring" the cartoons to the way they never were.

David Germaine wrote: I WANT THEM ALL!!! Even the Daffy/Speedy cartoons done in the DePatie-Freleng/Bill Hendricks years. Yes, I know many of them are barely watchable, but eliminating any cartoon from the WB library is just wrong.

You aren't reading what John wrote. He wasn't saying that the cartoons shouldn't exist, or that you shouldn't watch them. He was saying that they weren't good cartoons to study if you want to become an artist for Spumco.

Friz is soemwhat further down on the list of WB directors and yet he won the most Oscars for that studio. Kind of ironic I guess.

It definitely is a crime against humanity that both Avery and Clampett never got to take home a little statue of a naked man holding a hammer (what that has to do with movies I'll never know). Clampett did however win a bunch of little statues of some chick with wings holding up a ball with lines on it for his Time For Beany program. Tex, unfortunately, had to settle for 6 Oscar nominations; 2 at Warner Bros., 2 at MGM, and 2 at Lantz.

Hey, John K. What are your opinions on two of the more underrated WB directors: Norman McCabe and Arthur Davis? I think they were pretty good, and had great potential. Although, I'd say Davis was better than McCabe.

Why do you so love the Preston Blair book? While there are some things there, no doubt, there are also some totally generic things. What about Andrew Loomis? Didn't the great animators that you admire actually learn from life drawing and classical instruction, then apply their skill to "cartoons"? Shouldn't an artist just learn to draw really well first, before he copies from a book? By drawing from life and sketching stuff all the time? The basics are the same: SILHOUETTE, line of action, etc....I've seen an awful lot of terrible cartoon portfolios from people who copied out of the Preston Blair book, but never learned to DRAW. Be careful what you wish for in Spummers!Anyway, just throwing it out there. Love your blog. Keep posting!

Dear Mr. Kricfalusi, I have kind of recently discovered your work on the internet and learned about you though going to an Art School. As a kid I didn't have cable yet I did watch a lot of the old cartoons that you mention in your blogs. Having known of your most recognized work of Ren and Stimpy by watching it at friends’ houses I have come to really enjoy them more recently since I have more access through them by using the Art school that I am currently attending. Speaking of Art school I was wondering if it was all possible that you could come to my Art school to speak about cartoons and the animation industry as a whole. The animation students here at the Art Institute of San Diego I believe are not being treated as equals compared to the other majors at the school meaning that they don't have cool events to go to. The game art students at AI have got to so to gamers conferences, siggraph, and E4 conventions. The animation students on the other hand don't really have any convention to go to except Comic Con which is fine but not solely based on animation. It is my believe that if you, Mr. Kricfalusi came to preach about animation at our school I believe that the morale of the animation students can be risen to new heights. If you do get to read this e-mail please respond A.S.A.P. to the following e-mail address;tom_rollinger@hotmail.comHelp us John Kricfalusi you are our only hope! Sincerely, Tom Rollinger

I'm really enjoying this blog to no end. John K is an artist of great talent and full of interesting insights. His caricatures are classics. And he's very generous in sharing his knowledge and ideas, it's really great that a big-time creator has a dialogue with his public...Wonderful stuff!

Yep, wonderful....uh, one caveat:

FRIZ IS FIRST-RATE, A HALL-OF-FAMER IF THERE EVER WAS ONE, and one of the best directors caroons ever had!

Iam glad you brought up Preston Blair as an example of a great animator,I think he was one of the best of his time.He knew the art and did it flawlessly. As for your comments about Friz Freleng,he was far from 3rd rate. Though his artwork was not the best,he had inpecciable comedic timing and his Yomsemite Sam character was the best villain Bugs Bunny went up agianst.

hey John, i remember turning in some really shitty portfolio to you when Spumco was in glendale. it's safe to say that i am embarrassed to have shown you such crap. i'd like to show you how far i've come since then, if at all. drop me a line at dvlman39@hotmail.com. i'll buy ya some brews. i'd like your insight on my new crap. hope to hear from you soon.

It's really difficult for us to get anyone from the animation field to come speak at our school in Tucson, AZ. We need you, John! Seriously. Our animation department is just screwy.

My mom picked me up a well-loved copy of that Preston Blair book when I was a wee little girl. I would spend hours on the floor, tracing and then eventually drawing the multitudes of great characters on those pages. Years later I find myself in college for animation, referencing the same book for my character movement and timing classes. It's one of the most valuable information sources that I've had.

I believe the yellow cover is just an older edition. We have the elephant one in our school library and it has the exact same information as the older edition. I believe it also has two books worth of information crammed into it, instead of the one.

I have to say, Ren and Stimpy was one of the greatest cartoons within the last 30 years to ever grace the TV, if not THE best. You do say some interesting things though. Too many animation students, as I've noticed with fellow classmates, are influenced by cartoons without understanding them. They'll see something cool they liked, whether it be R&S or WB or even some anime, and only imitate it, without understanding its timing or reason.A great man came to SVA once, and that was Brad Bird, who directed Iron Giant, and The Incredibles, two of which were, in my opinion, the best animated films since old Disney. He told us to don't get influenced only by cartoons. We should look outside, observe life, look at and absorb many things outside of cartoons. I mean, were Clampett's influences only previous cartoons he saw? But anyways, thats just how I feel about a lot of today's cartoons, and some of the future animators which I have studied with. A lot are only trying to imitate great artists before them, without really understanding them.I've decided to stop going to school for animation. I personally believe that animation is not something that can be taught by teachers or books only. I think it involves a lot of trial and error, some of which can be avoided with school and books. But I think that theres a certain plateau that can be hit with Art Schools, that only the student can overcome. Hell, School of Visual Arts had a mediocre animation dept, with a terrible chairperson who didn't really care about animation, only film. Sure, there were great teachers in the school, I learned a lot from them. But I feel that the curriculum doesn't really teach whats right. Or maybe they just cant, and its some of those things that need to be sought out by the students themselves. And they don't seem to stress this point.

To end this long rant, the way I see it: Did Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, and all the greats from that era, go to art school to become animators? No. They were all draftsmen, who learned the trade basically because it was the only art trade making money during the depression. So, they had all the influences from that era to fuel them.

Anyways, thanks for all the toons, I look foward to the lost episodes DVD.

I'd wish you'd come to SVA, but well I'm not one in charge of those things. But if you did come, I'd find a way to sneak in.

At 7:37 AM, Alicia said... p.s. Reg Hartt scares the crap out of me half the time so I try to avoid him.

Reg Hartt says: For those who are not so easily frightened take this opportunity to see over 200 uncensored 16mm prints of great cartoons:TEX AVERY& FRIENDS ANIMATION FEST 2006.This program offers over 200 uncut 16mm prints of some of the wickedest animated cartoons ever made!

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I am aspiring to begin the quest...I have had the Animation by Preston Blair book since I was a kid. I have always wanted to draw cartoons, but never was able to find the right support or validation for investing the time.

Until I recently discovered your blog, I thought the best way to do animation was via 3D modeling, I agree with your arguments as justification for a different point of few.

I have a bachelors degree in theatre, and have studied radio comedy, movement, drawing and basic design. I like to make electronic soundtracks and music videos.

MR. JOHN K.!My college really needs help in animation!Here at the Illinois Institute of Art in Schaumburg, we have a Media Arts and Animation major, but it's lacking so much! Maybe I should have realized that this school is in it for the money, and that they weren't really going to teach traditional animation, but it's ridiculous. I was hoping to truly learn animation from someone that KNOWS how to really do it(And with traditional media). Sure, we can buy books, which I did, and learn from them, which I am doing. I'm just overly disappointed how much students in animation won't bother to truly learn the ways of animation. Sure, I'll buy the book and learn, and teachers will only give me some stuff to learn from, but then I might of well not have joined this school and just study by myself and still learn plenty.That's fine and all to learn out of a book, but I would really like to learn under someone who can truly teach me along the way! (Ok, that's out of point)

I'm just hoping someday, some year, you can come to ILIS in Schaumburg and show the students the history of animation and techniques that were used back to then, hopefully to motivate students to really learn, and get out of this whole thing of being in art school for the sake of being there.